The location of hormē (impulse) is a long-standing problem in Stoic action theory, as it is unclear whether it comes before or after the assent. In this paper, we aim to define hormē and locate it in the chain of mental states that, for the Stoics, bring us to action. Following both ancient and modern sources, we argue that hormē is best understood as an intention since it comprises a cluster of mental states that cause intentional action. We also argue that the impulse coincides with the assent because they are both activated in an agent's mind almost simultaneously after an external presentation. We, then, reject the notion of double impulse and an understanding of hormē as a desire. The paper highlights interesting points of connection between the ancient and contemporary action theory by showing that the Stoic view of rational, intentional action bears strong similarities to contemporary accounts of intention.


The limited regenerative potential of the heart via cell proliferation or stem cell recruitment isinsufficient to compensate for tissue loss after an acute myocardial infarction [1], [2].Consequently, the increased workload placed on the surviving myocardium often leads to heartfailure. Approximately 865,000 Americans per year suffer a myocardial infarction and nearly4.9 million are afflicted with heart failure, demonstrating the vital need for new and moreefficient therapies [ 3]. More than a decade ago, the transplantation of exogenous cells into theheart had been proposed as a method to augment compromised heart function in these diseases[2], [4]. Nowadays, the use of stem cells to rebuild a damaged heart has become a mainstreamexperimental concept in cardiac research. Moreover, the severity of heart disease and theincreasing numbers of heart failure patients have prompted attempts to implement the stemcell therapies in clinical practice. While the number of enrolled patients in clinical studies isgrowing, our understanding of the potential role of transplanted cells in cardiac repair is limited.The main questions to be answered are: Which heart disease and when should it be treated?Which cell type or combination of cell types will be the most beneficial, safe, and yield long-lasting improvement of heart function? How should these cells be delivered? What are themechanisms by which transplanted cells affect heart function, and how can this knowledge beused to promote the development of new methods for tissue repair and regeneration?Despite a number of unoptimized variables, initial clinical attempts using autologous skeletalmyoblasts [ 5] and bone marrow-derived stem cells [ 6] have demonstrated slight but significantimprovements in heart function, most likely due to the paracrine action of implanted cells andincreased vascularization of the infarct area. However, the latest results of double-blindrandomized placebo-controlled trials have been less encouraging [7]–[10]. Some of the mainhurdles have been recognized, including low retention and survival of implanted cells, as wellas limited cardiogenic differentiation and functional integration of delivered cells within thehost heart tissue. In particular, suboptimal methods for cell delivery into the heart have beenshown to result in uncontrolled cell loss (even >90%) from the injection site and largevariability of the resulting graft size [ 2]. The mixing of bioactive hydrogels with injected cellsand subsequent cell/hydrogel polymerization in situ can be used to minimize cell loss [11],[12]. However, even if a high number of cells are efficiently retained at the injection site, theirsurvival within the harsh infarct environment is not guaranteed and higher cell densities maylead to even higher cell mortality. Currently ∼90% of successfully delivered cells are shownto die within the first week after injection [2]. Heat shock treatment prior to cell implantation[13] as well as exogenous delivery of anti-apoptotic and angiogenic factors [ 14]–[16] or theiroverexpression in implanted cells [ 17], [18] are being explored in an attempt to overcome thisproblem.Nonetheless, the source of optimal donor cells for heart repair remains the most important andmost studied area in this rapidly growing field. Interestingly, a large number of donor cell typesin different animal studies have been shown to exert some functional benefit upon implantationin the heart (at least over a relatively short period after implantation). Ideally, the implantedcells should be nontumorogenic and nonimmunogenic, proliferate rapidly and abundantly invitro, and structurally and functionally integrate in sufficient numbers with host


Based on the unified Eulerian and Lagrangian coordinate transformations, the unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with artificial compressibility effects are developed. As we know, the Eulerian coordinates cause excessive numerical diffusion across flow discontinuities, slip lines in particular. The Lagrangian coordinates, on the other hand, can resolve slip lines sharply but cause severe grid deformation, resulting in large errors and even breakdown of the computation. Recently, Hui et al. (J. Comput. Phys. 1999; 153:596–637) have introduced a unified coordinate system that moves with velocity hq, q being the velocity of the fluid particle. It includes the Eulerian system as a special case when h=0, and the Lagrangian when h=1, and was shown for the two‐dimensional unsteady Euler equations of compressible flow to be superior than both Eulerian and Lagrangian systems. In the framework of unified coordinates, our work will derive the unsteady incompressible flow equations and moving geometry equations, when hq equals grid velocity in conservation form and is updated simultaneously during each time step. Thus, the accurate estimation of geometry conservation and controlling the grid velocity or the h value based on the unified approach can keep numerical stability and avoid computation breakdown caused by moving body or boundary layers (considered as slip lines in Lagrangian coordinates). Also, the existing high‐resolution Riemann solver can be extended to discretize the current unified incompressible flow equations. Our benchmark tests including the lid‐driven cavity flow and backward step flow, oscillating flat plat and pulsating stenotic tube are used to validate the computations. The results verify the accuracy and robustness of the unified artificial compressibility solver on the moving body simulation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The isolation rate of Ureaplasma urealyticum was 57 per cent. from 47 patients with non-gonococcal urethritis, 40 per cent. from forty patients with gonorrhoea, 47 per cent from healthy sailors, and 53 per cent. from healthy students and laboratory technicians. No difference in distribution of eight serotypes among 45 isolates from these groups was demonstrated and no particular serotype could be correlated with disease symptoms.


Acknowledgements ix..Introduction xiii..A note on language xv..1 Mostly of tears 1..2 Clasping their children tightly 22..3 Porridge for every meal 48..4 Horse-thieves and harlots 74..5 When native fruits are ripe 93..6 Dark deeds in a sunny land 112..7 Ghosts crying in the dark 127..8 A complete outsider 154..9 Punishment place 170..Endnotes 193..Sources and a select guide to reading 205..Index 209


Theory of 'Aṣabiyyah as introduced by Ibn Khaldūn is concerning notion of sharing common descent and sense within particular group members. It is natural feelings of affection instilled in human beings, mainly in protecting their group members or brothers who are treated unjustly. Hence, it is depicted in line and not contrary to Islam based on this basis. However, within Islam, there is a concept of Muslim Ummah which based on faith and respect and notion of universal brotherhood, regardless ethnic or group background. Hence, this paper examines whether the theory of 'Aṣabiyyah fit into the concept of Muslim Ummah or not, and the similarities and differences between these two concepts. In other words, this paper discusses further the comparison between Ibn Khaldūn theory of 'Aṣabiyyah and the concept of Muslim Ummah, as well as examine the theory of 'Aṣabiyyah from the Islamic perspective.


This article looks at two texts from award-winning French writer Delphine de Vigan, namely Rien ne s'oppose a la nuit (2011) and Jours sans faim (2001). This piece offers an original analysis that goes beyond the family novel and autofiction readings that have previously been made of the narratives by showing show how family, transgression, trauma, illness and writing are intrinsically linked in Vigan's writing and how both text should instead be read as pathographies.


The development of high-performance thermal systems has increased interest in heat transfer enhancement techniques. The high thermal performance enhancement of heat exchanger systems is needed to use energy source efficiently due to the sky-rocketing prices of petroleum and coal fuels. Heat exchangers are widely used in industry both for cooling and heating. Insertion of turbulators in the flow passage is one of the favorable passive heat transfer augmentation techniques due to their advantages of easy fabrication, operation as well as low maintenance. The purpose of this review presents the effect of twisted tape turbulators on the heat transfer enhancement, pressure drop, flow friction and thermal performance factor characteristics in a heat exchanger tube. The twisted tape turbulator is a device for increasing the heat transfer rate in the heat exchanger system. The widely employed in several industrial and engineering applications of heat exchanger are automobile, refrigerators, solar collector, heat engine, air conditions, thermal power plant, electronic cooling, milk plant, chemical process industries etc. heat transfer enhancement using different type of the turbulators placed in the tube has been extensively studied for the past decade among the both passive and active technique are compile in this review. Keywords-Heat transfer enhancement, flow friction, pressure drop, twisted tape turbulator, swirl flow.


In today's world of distributed collaborations of scientists, there are many challenges to providing effective infrastructures to couple these groups of scientists with their shared computing and storage resources. The Pythia Network Diagnostic InfrasTructure (PuNDIT[1]) project is integrating and scaling research tools and creating robust code suitable for operational needs addressing the difficult challenge of automating the detection and location of network problems.PuNDIT is building upon the de-facto standard perfSONAR[2] network measurement infrastructure deployed in Open Science Grid(OSG)[3] and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid(WLCG)[4]to gather and analyze complex real-world network topologies coupled with their corresponding network metrics to identify possible signatures of network problems from a set of symptoms. The PuNDIT Team is working closely with the perfSONAR developers from ESnet and Internet2 to integrate PuNDIT components as part of the perfSONAR Toolkit. A primary goal for PuNDIT is to convert complex network metrics into easily understood diagnoses in an automated way. We will report on the project progress to-date in working with the OSG and WLCG communities, describe the current implementation including some initial results and discuss future plans and the project timeline.


Purpose: to assess portal and splanchnic haemodynamics, and splanchnic vascular resistance in patients with advanced post-hepatitic cirrhosis and in healthy volunteers, by means of duplex Doppler ultrasound (US) Material and Methods: the duplex Doppler US examination was performed in 16 patients with cirrhosis and in 24 healthy volunteers. We investigated vessel diameters, mean flow velocities, and mean blood flows in the portal vein, the superior mesenteric artery (SMA), and the splenic artery (SA), and measured the resistive index values of SMA and SA Results: the mean portal venous blood flow in patients with cirrhosis (829 ± 264 ml/min) was not statistically different from those in the volunteers (734 ± 194 ml/min). the ratio of the SMA and SA blood flows (621 ml/min) to the portal venous blood flow (734 ml/min) was 0.85 in the control subjects. the mean portal venous blood flow (1261 ml/min) and the portal venous velocity (14.6 cm/s) were higher in the patients with recanalized para-umbilical veins than in the volunteers and in the patients without recanalized para-umbilical veins. the SMA and SA blood flows were significantly increased in patients with cirrhosis compared with volunteers. Splanchnic inflow (the sum of the SMA and SA blood flows) was higher than the portal blood flow in patients with cirrhosis except in the subjects with recanalized para-umbilical veins. SMA and SA resistive index values were significantly higher in these patients than in the volunteers Conclusion: Splanchnic blood flow and splanchnic vascular impedance increased significantly in patients with advanced post-hepatitic cirrhosis. Splanchnic inflow must not exceed portal venous blood flow in patients with recanalized para-umbilical veins. Portal vein velocity and portal venous blood flow measurements alone are not useful parameters for discriminating patients with cirrhosis from healthy subjects


The words race, ethnicity and culture and their various derivatives are all very familiar: indeed the terms race and culture, if not ethnicity, are regularly used in everyday speech. Yet just what do they actually mean? Are they merely synonyms for one another, are do they point to very different dimensions of the social order? Although there can be little doubt that the social phenomena with respect to which these terms are deployed issues are amongst those of the most pressing socio-political importance in the contemporary world, a little reflection soon reveals that their precise meaning is still surrounded by clouds of conceptual confusion. Nor is this confusion limited to popular discourse: sociologists hardly do much better. This is most alarming. If n social scientists lack an analytical vocabulary whose meanings are broadly agreed upon, there is little prospect of them being able to construct viable descriptions – let alone insightful explanations – of the phenomena they are seeking to understand, no matter how much the streets may be riven by 'race riots', no matter how many holocausts may be precipitated by processes of 'ethnic cleansing', and no matter how many aircraft may be flown straight into skyscrapers. In the absence of an appropriate analytical vocabulary not only will the prospect of our being able to comprehend the processes give rise to such confrontations be severely inhibited, but the prospects our being able to identify the best means of resolving the underlying problems will remain remote. With such challenges in mind, this Chapter has a straightforward agenda. Firstly to identify how the terms race, ethnicity and culture are currently used in popular discourse – and the significance of these usages; secondly to identify how each of these terms can best be defined in technical terms, such that they can be turned into more precise – and hence more effective – vehicles for sociological analysis; and thirdly to explore the ways in which a more carefully constructed analytical vocabulary can enable us to gain a clearer grasp of just how a whole series of pressing contemporary problems have arisen – and how they might realistically be resolved.


Oxide-based hydrogenation catalysts have attracted intensive interest, but the relationships between their composition, structure, and reaction mechanism are still ambiguous. Here, we conducted density functional theory (DFT) calculation on ethylene hydrogenation over WO3, WO2.72, WO2, and W catalysts to explore how the structure and catalytic activity change with the composition and explain why neither WO3 nor metallic W is a good hydrogenation catalyst but WO3–x is. Calculations on the geometric and electronic structures show a transition from semiconductor to metal-like with more W–W metal bonds appearing from the corresponding oxidized to metallic tungsten. Correspondingly, the H2 dissociation mechanism changes from heterotypic on the semiconductor WO3 and WO2.72 to homotypic on the metal-like WO2 and metallic W, and the adsorption strength of the dissociation product (2H) enhances from oxidized to metallic W. Calculations on the stepwise hydrogenation indicate that H2 dissociation is the rate-limitin...


Sixty mutants of Neurospora crassa unable to grow on acetate as sole source of carbon, but able to utilize sucrose, were isolated. On the basis of complementation tests, they were divided into seven groups, each group representing a different gene. Six of the genes have been mapped; no two are closely linked. These loci have been designated acu-1 to acu-7. Mutations at four of these loci result in poor germination of ascospores.


The present invention provides a network management system for secure communication between at least two clients. NMS includes a proxy server works as a network management server, which includes network management software. Network management server connected to the communication between the client management for clients. The network management system further comprises at least two security communications channels are connected to a network management server and each client established by the network management server, management by the network server forwards messages between the client, so that safety can be between a client communication; wherein the process of establishing secure communication channels as follows: after the authentication client and the network management server send each hello message, and then exchange certificates with each other, then the server commands the client to start using encryption, and data transmission when the end of the initial handshake can be implemented.


An ultrathin EOT Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf>/GeO<inf>x</inf>/Ge gate stack with a superior GeO<inf>x</inf>/Ge MOS interface has been fabricated with a plasma post oxidation method. The properties of the ultra thin GeO<inf>x</inf>/Ge MOS interfaces are examined systemically, and it is revealed that there is a universal relationship between the D<inf>it</inf> at GeO<inf>x</inf>/Ge interface and the GeO<inf>x</inf> thickness, and a 0.5-nm-thick GeO<inf>x</inf> (0.35 nm EOT) is sufficient to suppress the D<inf>it</inf>. The Ge n- and p-MOSFETs using the Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf>/GeO<inf>x</inf>/Ge gate stacks are fabricated on (100), (110) and (111) Ge. High mobility Ge n-MOSFETs with sub-nm EOT have been realized for the first time with record high mobilities of 937 and 691 cm2/Vs at EOT of 1.14 and 0.98 nm. It is found that the sufficient suppression of D<inf>it</inf> allows us to obtain high peak mobilities even in sub-nm EOT range, while further improvements in surface roughness and suppression of the density of remaining Coulomb scattering centers such as fixed charges and slow traps are still needed to further enhance the performances of Ge n- and p-MOSFETs.


This empirical study examined gender differences in statistics anxiety with 156 undergraduate college students (48 males, 107 females) from a liberal arts college in the United States. Students completed surveys regarding number of prior statistics classes completed and statistics anxiety. Three subscales of the Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS; Cruise, Cash, and Bolton, 1985) which measures statistics anxiety were used. No gender differences were obtained for the Worth of Statistics and Computation Self-Concept subscales. Females had greater anxiety on the Test and Class Anxiety subscale than males. For males, no significant correlations were obtained between statistics anxiety and course grades. For females, significant correlations were obtained between Worth of Statistics and course grades (r = .230, p < .05) and Computation Self-Concept and course grades (r = .226, p < .05).


: Students' mental health education is very important for individual growth. The family-school co-education provides a new perspective for students' mental health development. School and family is the main environment of students' study and life


The elegant free‐form steel‐and‐glass canopy covers the atrium of the redevelopment of the "CasaShopping" luxury home furnishings centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The eye‐catching sculptural shape of the canopy is inspired by the ocean waves of the nearby seaside of Barra di Tijuca. The "Carioca Wave" rises out of a pool at ground level and arches over the atrium to provide a link between the shops and the main entrance at the lower level. The complex geometry of the structure places high demands on construction. The high‐precision node‐beam system was prefabricated in Europe in order to allow fast and simple assembly and erection on site. The free‐form steel‐and‐glass structure – one of the first of its kind in South America – was developed in a collaborative design‐and‐build project between architect Nir Sivan (Rome, Italy), special contractor se‐austria (Schoerfling, Austria) and Knippers Helbig advanced engineering (Stuttgart, Germany).


This paper describes self-localization of mobile robot in outdoor environment. Our robot uses omni-directional vision system to archive efficient self-localization. This vision system acquires the visible information of all direction views. The robot uses feature of landmarks whose size is bigger than that of others in image such as building, sculptures, placard etc. Robot uses vertical edges and those merged regions as the feature. After acquiring the feature, robot must compare with them in order to know the same landmark fair between two images. To get more robustness in landmark matching procedure, robot uses the geometrical constraints within omni-directional images. The experiments implemented our campus and achieved the efficient self-localization result using robust landmark matching method.


The patient was a 70-year-old woman with back pain and gait disturbance. Destructive changes of Th 12 and L 1 were detected on x-ray of the vertebrae. Laminectomy and biopsy of the tumor tissue was performed. The histology of the specimen showed metastatic follicular carcinoma of the thyroid. However, no tumor was palpable in the anterior neck region. Echography revealed a small nodule in the left lobe of the thyroid. A preoperative diagnosis of the occult carcinoma with vertebral metastases was made, and total thyroidectomy with bilateral cervical lymph node dissection was done. In the resected specimen, a firm tumor measuring 1.0 × 1.0 × 0.6cm in size was found in the left lobe. Histologically, the firm nodule in the left lobe showed the sclerosing type of follicular carcinoma, and no metastases of the lymph nodes were found. After operation, radiation therapy using 131I (100mCi) was done.In our department, we have had 757 cases of primary thyroid carcinoma. These include 10 cases of occult carcinoma, 9 cases (1.1%) found by lymph node metastases, and only one case (0.1%) detected by distant metastasis. It is considered that occult carcinoma of the thyroid found by distant metastasis is very rare.


Introduction The objective of this research has been to develop and test a theoretical framework in which words in the lexicon are represented as sequences of segments and the segments are represented, in part, as auditory goals. Control mechanisms for the production of speech sound sequences are based on the auditory goals, which, for the present purposes, we equated to acoustic goals. The motor programming to produce sequences of goals utilizes an internal model of relations between articulations and their acoustic consequences. The acoustic goals are determined partly by non-linear quantal relations, called saturation effects, between motor commands and articulatory movements (e.g. with contact between two articulators) and between movements and sound (cf. Stevens, 1972). The relations between motor commands and articulatory movements are influenced by biomechanical constraints, which include characteristics of individual speakers' anatomy and more general dynamical properties of the production mechanism. To produce an intelligible sound sequence while accounting for biomechanical constraints, speech movements are planned so that sufficient perceptual contrast is achieved with minimal effort. There are individual differences in planning movements toward acoustic goals that may be due to relations between production and perception mechanisms in individual speakers. To test hypotheses based on this overview, we have performed a series of psychophysical experiments on as many as 20 subjects (10 females, 10 males), in which we made measures of their speech production (articulator movement and contact and the acoustic signal) and perception. One of these studies included perturbations with bite blocks and masking noise; another included perturbation of auditory feedback by modifying formant frequencies. We have also made advances in vocal-tract and control modeling and have begun to test additional hypotheses – also based on the theoretical overview – by comparing model performance with several different kinds of subject data. 1.1 Cross-subject relations between measures of vowel production and perception. This study addressed the hypothesis that the more accurately a speaker discriminates a vowel contrast, the more distinctly the speaker produces that contrast. Measures of speech production and perception were collected from 19 young adult speakers of American English. In the production experiment, speakers repeated the words " cod," " cud," " who'd " and " hood " in a carrier phrase at normal and fast rates. Articulatory movements and the associated acoustic signal were recorded, yielding measures of contrast distance between /u/ and /7/ and between /α/ and /¡/. In the perception experiment, sets …


Treating female offenders is a major challenge of criminal justice, psychology, and social intervention practitioners. The rates of arrests and convictions have increased, leading to a need to provide services for women prosecuted for violent crimes. However, the available knowledge, intervention programs, and validated tools are limited in the Spanish context. This review aims to provide an overview of the international context regarding the intervention with violent female offenders, focusing on the case of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. The literature shows that low prevalences limit studies about the effectiveness of interventions, victimization seems a relevant topic in the treatment of female offenders, risk assessment is very complicated due to the low recidivism, and attrition in programs is very common as it is in men. The implications for the development of the topic in the Spanish context


How to resolve the problem of high-level speed skaters' training weariness is an important part for improving the management work of physical education in universities.From the aspects of school age,competition,speciality of speed skating and coach,the article analyzes the causation of their training weariness.For overcoming it,it suggests some countermeasures to enhance the work of idea education and psychological guidance,to properly adjust their learning pressure,to increase the coaches' teaching quality with scientific training,to advance the reform of competition system.


Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a major agent in choroidal and retinal neovascularization, events associated with age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy. Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), strategically located between retina and choroid, plays a critical role in retinal disorders. We have examined the effects of various growth factors on the expression and secretion of VEGF by human retinal pigment epithelial cell cultures (HRPE). RT‐PCR analyses revealed the presence of three isoforms of mRNA corresponding to VEGF 121, 165, and 189 that were up regulated by TGF‐β1. TGF‐β1, β2, and β3 were the potent inducers of VEGF secretion by HRPE cells whereas bFGF, PDGF, TGF‐α, and GM‐CSF had no effects. TGF‐β receptor type II antibody significantly reversed induction of VEGF secretion by TGF‐β. In contrast activin, inhibin and BMP, members of TGF‐β super family, had no effects on VEGF expression in HRPE. VEGF mRNA levels and protein secretion induced by TGF‐β were significantly inhibited by SB203580 and U0126, inhibitors of MAP kinases, but not by staurosporine and PDTC, protein kinase C and NF‐κB pathway inhibitors, respectively. TGF‐β also induced VEGF expression by fibroblasts derived from human choroid of eye. TGF‐β induction of VEGF secretion by RPE and choroid cells may play a significant role in choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in AMD. Since the secretion of VEGF by HRPE is regulated by MAP kinase pathways, MAP kinase inhibitors may have potential use as therapeutic agents for CNV in AMD. Published 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. J. Cell. Physiol. 197: 453–462, 2003© 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A standard nomenclature based on octal numbers was developed for naming pathotypes of the barley scald fungus, Rhynchosporium secalis. Twenty-four barley differential cultivars were included in this nomenclature. These cultivars were chosen for nomenclatural purposes because they have been the most commonly used in previous studies, and because jointly they carry all of the known genes for scald resistance. The octal nomenclature allows a unique appellation to be generated for each possible combination of pathogenicities in the fungus (...)


Based on geographic information system (GIS) platform and three-dimensional visualization technique, the method of three-dimensional dynamic visualization for the schedule of hydroelectric project is presented.The 3D digital model of project schedule is set up.Then depending on this model, the functions of dynamic display, inter-manipulation, spatial analysis are achieved, and dynamic simulation of the project schedule is realized.The successful application of hydroelectric project is given to show the effectiveness and practicability of this approach which has advantages in expressing the project schedule and in visualizing the complex space-time relationship among all aspects of the project schedule. This method is instructive to modernization of design and management of hydroelectric project.


This study contributes to theory on organizational evolution by investigating the founder's role beyond business creation. While extant literature has either focused on the very beginning of the entrepreneurial process and, more recently, on its end, we know little about what happens in between. Our study is a first attempt to shed more light on this critical, yet neglected stage by taking up an important institutional reality, namely the founder's continued firm involvement after being dismissed as the company's CEO, and examines how founders frame their role transition from CEO into a (non) executive organizational member. By conducting an in-depth case study among nine growing companies who retained their founders after replacing them with a professional CEO, we show that founders employ different types of narratives that each promotes a distinct work identity. Thereby, we identify three types of narratives that founders use to claim a new work identity. Furthermore, we show that the choice of these na...


Parts II and III, which in format resemble a typical American Government textbook, very usefully describe the organization, powers, and functions of the federal and regional governments. It is here that the author is at his best. Part IV returns to the author's recurring theme, the federal relationship in terms of the fears of minorities, and the idea that the regions are too large for the development of national unity. Hans Weiler's Education and Politics in Nigeria is a laudable bilingual effort to begin to come to grips on an interdisciplinary level with the reciprocal relationship between the development of political institutions and ideas, and the pattern and content of education in the most populous new African state. The editor points out that "a systematic analysis of this relationship under the specific conditions of a new state was considered premature . . ." and that it is a "rather random survey of the various ways in which the mutual relationship between education and politics in a new state may, and actually does, take shape" (p. 14). The book grew out of discussions of some research projects at the Arnold-Bergstraesser Institute at the University of Freiburg. Phoebe and Simon Ottenberg and Rachel Yeld have looked into segments of Nigerian traditional society to investigate the social and political significance of education from the standpoints of anthropology and sociology. Political scientists Kenneth W. J. Post and James O'Connell examine the role of political groups and institutions in education. The relationship between education and the directions being taken by the new Nigerian elite are the concern of Hugh H. Smythe. Historian Helmuth Peets examines the role of education in British colonial policy and its impact in the present in Nigeria. Leonard John Lewis and Willfried E. Feuser devote their essays to the political implications of the educational system from the educationist point of view. The essays in English by the Ottenbergs, Yeld, O'Connell, Post, Smythe, and Lewis are followed by summaries in German while English summaries are provided for the essays in German by Peets and Feuser. Also included are selected statistics on education in Nigeria and a selected bibliography on education and educational policy in Nigeria. Both books are useful analyses of the problems of one of the world's more important new states. —ROY OLTON, Western Michigan University.


Abstract This study investigated the job-search strategies of high school students (N = 261) in Australia. Respondents differentiated between self-effort (e.g. studying job trends) and external (e.g. seeking help from friends) strategies in seeking employment. Girls were found to be significantly more supportive of both these strategies than were boys. For boys and girls, self-effort strategies were observed to correlate significantly with external attributions for employment (negative association), work ethic beliefs, and job value, while the correlates of external strategies differed for the two sexes. Further analyses showed that when both job-search measures were regressed on the independent predictors, marked differences were noted for males and females. It is concluded that different processes may underly the job-search behaviours of young males and females. Suggestions for further research are noted.


In his 1968 essay "Technology and Science as 'Ideology'," Jürgen Habermas deals more explicitly than in other works with phenomena related to modern technology and science.1 He is well known for his social theory, legal theory, and theories of subjectivity and intersubjectivity, and has been a major figure in the intellectual history of modern Europe due to the twin role he has played as both a voice and a representative of the political and philosophical movements of postwar and post-Holocaust West Germany. Exploring the role of technology in his thinking brings into focus technology's ambiguous status in critical social theory as well as the general relationship between intellectual history and the history of technology. The disturbingly open-ended question whether technology is modernity's blessing or its curse has mobilized critics and commentators at least since the Industrial Revolution and has divided them at political, epistemic, and moral levels. Habermas's project sits in the middle of such traditions, and his 1968 essay "updates" long-standing concerns about industrial modernity for the specific technological, philosophical, and political conditions of the early Cold War. Intersections between technology and his signature fields—intersections that he has both forged and contributed to—are found in political theories of technology and democracy (in the forms, for example, of technocracy and technological determinism), epistemologies of scientific knowledge and their relevance for theories of the reasonable subject and of knowledge communities, and theories of secularization and modern state-building.2


An optimised high-performance liquid chromatographic separation developed for the assay of tioconazole and its potential impurities has been applied to real-world samples where tioconazole is in excess. As severe peak tailing interferes with the assay of two of the impurity peaks, changes in detection wavelength have been examined as a means to discriminate between this interference. The resulting enhancement of resolution has been exploited in the optimisation of analysis time.


Additive manufacturing (AM) has become a major manufacturing technology in recent years. In the fused deposition modeling (FDM) method, two-layered parts with a shell structure and an internal structure with gaps are often manufactured. When cutting is applied to such parts, the internal structure is exposed and the surface texture and strength deteriorate. Therefore, it is necessary to remanufacture the parts to correct the shape or fill the inside with resin for additional machining. However, if parts are remanufactured or filled with resin, the amount of material used increases, along with the processing cost and environmental load. If the characteristics of additional machining can be improved, the amount of material used, the processing cost, and environmental load can be reduced. Therefore, in this study, we proposed a shell forming method to form a shell structure by processing the surface of the exposed internal structure with a rod. Shell forming experiments were then conducted to evaluate the characteristics of the method. It was found that the shell thickness can be increased by increasing the shell forming depth, and the difference from the theoretical shell thickness grows larger when the shell forming depth increases. Increasing the rotation speed of the rod was effective in increasing the shell thickness. In addition, as a result of the additional cutting experiment on an AM part, it was confirmed that the properties of the additional cutting surface can be improved using the proposed method.


The performance of removing hydrogen sulfide by using activated carbon fibers(ACFs) with ferric salts at ambient temperature is studied,with the influencing factors discussed.It is found that after thermal treatments,ACFs impregnated iron nitrate present a great efficiency of adsorbing hydrogen sulfide(the amount of H2S in the outlet gas is lower than 0.1 ppmv,when 950ppmv in the inlet gas) at room temperature,and especially the adsorbent CI5H623 has the adsorption capability of 383.56 mg(H2S)/g(ACF).Also it is discussed that the predominant influencing factors involve active oxygenic groups,humidity,pore structure and high specific area of adsorbent.Besides,the amount of iron oxide and surface acidity(such as pH) are the subsidiary factors.


The present investigation was carried out in rice involving 7 lines (STBN 12-14, IVT 1235, STBN 3, STBN 2, MTU 1001, IVT 1208 and STBN 13-11) and 3 testers (ADT 45, IR 50 and IR 66) to identify the best combining parents and nature of gene action in association with yield and its component traits in rice. The parents were mated in the L × T method. The resultant twenty one hybrids were evaluated for ten characters viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height at maturity, number of tillers per plant, number of productive tillers per plant, panicle length, number of grains per panicle, flag leaf length, flag leaf breadth, thousand grain weight, grain yield per plant. The performance of lines, testers and their hybrids were evaluated with the biometrical model given by Kempthorne (1957). The variance due to line × tester and hybrids were significant for all the ten characters of interest. The variance due to SCA was higher than the corresponding variance due to GCA for all the ten characters studied.


Various aspects of excitement in sport are identified, and one aspect is defined and studied in detail. This aspect is the excitement that can be attributed to the current score in the match. The definition of excitement is applicable to a wide range of sports scoring systems. Several examples are given, and a major focus is on a set of tennis. A methodology for determining the average value and variance of the total excitement in a match such as a set of tennis is outlined. The actual total excitement in a set of tennis could be included in the standard statistics routinely produced at the completion of a set. This could be a useful addition to these summary statistics. Sets within matches and across matches could be compared for their excitement levels. Thus, the most exciting set in a tournament or even the most exciting set for the year could be determined. Matches where the point-by-point data is historically available can even be assessed for their excitement. Examples are given where this methodology can be applied to the situation in which the outcome at a stage in the match can also be a draw, rather than just a win or a loss as in a point, game or set of tennis. These examples include an application to match-play golf.


In this paper, we suggest a privacy-preserving public auditing system for data storage safety in cloud computing. Using cloud storage, users can tenuously store their data and enjoy the on-demand high-quality applications and services from a shared pool of configurable dividing resources, without the burden of local data storage and preservation. However, the fact that users no longer have physical possession of the outsourced data makes the data integrity protection in cloud computing a difficult task, expressly for users with constrained computing possessions. Moreover, users should be able to just use the cloud storage as if it is local, without distressing about the need to verify its reliability. Thus, enabling public audit ability for cloud storage is of critical importance so that users can resort to a third-party auditor (TPA) to check the integrity of outsourced data and be worry free. To securely introduce an active TPA, the auditing process should bring in no new vulnerabilities toward user data privacy, and introduce no further online problem to user. In this paper, we propose a secure cloud storage system supporting privacy-preserving public auditing. We further outspread our result to enable the TPA to perform audits for multiple users concurrently and efficiently. General security and performance analysis show the proposed schemes are provably secure and highly well-organized. Our primary experiment conducted on Amazon EC2 instance further demonstrates the fast performance of the design.


Most academic papers have focused on two main legal issues regarding multimodal contracts, the applicable law and the liability of the operators. There has, however, been little discussion about the real nature of the primary legal document issued by the carrier in a multimodal operation: the multimodal transport bill of lading. In this thesis, I first investigate whether a multimodal bill of lading serves as a document of title in law and practice; I then analyse whether it should have this function. In Chapter 2, the bill of lading as the document of title par excellence in commercial maritime transactions will be studied by analysing its history, types, characteristics and legal framework. The status of the document of title of the bill of lading is examined, as well as its security function.Chapter 3 considers the benefits of the multimodal transport, as well as conceptual and practical legal challenges of this mode of transport. In particular, I assess whether the multimodal transport bill of lading is considered a document of title in English common law. I peruse the international unimodal conventions governing these transactions, as well as the case law developed by the common law courts and present mercantile practices. In Chapter 4, I provide some remarks as to whether a multimodal transport bill of lading should be considered a document of title in a legal sense at English common law.


Since electric vehicle has no combustion engine, extreme quietness of newly developed car is often discussed, especially on exterior sound design. For example, with additional engine sound, What is the suitable sound for pedestrian? This paper focuses on opposite way of such question. It means EV sound design for car driver, thus this ams for interior sound design. It also means better communication between automobile and driver. Since recent improvement of AI (artificial intelligence) technology, people will communicate with future automobile. Therefore, EV sound design on communication are discussed.


To understand the speech signal in the presence of noise poses a great challenge in the communication environment. Various existing speech enhancement methods are developed to achieve satisfactory result, but processing the signal in case of worst signal to noise ratio introduce intelligibility degradation and signal distortion. To overcome these complexities, an adaptive Fractional delta-amplitude modulation spectrogram (adaptive FD-AMS) is proposed in this research to increase the quality of speech signal. The proposed adaptive FD-AMS is developed by modifying the FD-AMS with the adaptive parameter. However, the proposed speech enhancement method effectively extracts the features from the frames and eliminates the noise spectrum more efficiently. Accordingly, the extracted feature enables the DBN classifier to enhance the speech signal by generating the optimal mask. The fractional parameter is fine tune by FD-AMS features. However, the training process of classifier is achieved with the optimal mask. However, the proposed adaptive FD-AMS obtained better performance with the metrics, such as perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ), and root mean square error (RMSE) with the values of 2.4034and 0.0172 using airport noise.


Two major types of taxes are levied on wealth: those applied sporadically or periodically on a person's wealth (net wealth taxes), and those applied on a transfer of wealth (transfer taxes). Net wealth taxes are typically assessed on the net value of the taxpayer's taxable assets (i.e., value of assets minus any related liability), either sporadically (often known as "capital levies") or on an annual or other periodic basis. Transfer taxes, which are typically assessed on the net value of the taxable assets transferred, fall into two basic categories: those levied on the transferor or her or his estate (more typical in common law countries), and those levied on the recipient.


This paper is totally based on the mathematical physics of the Black holes. In Einstein's theory of "General Relativity", Schwarzschild solution is the vacuum solutions of the Einstein Field Equations that describes the gravity potential from outside the body of a spherically symmetric object having zero charge, zero mass and zero cosmological constant[1]. It was discovered by Karl Schwarzschild in 1916, a little more than a month after the publication of the famous GR and the singularity is a point singularity which can be best described as a coordinate singularity rather than a real singularity, however, the drawback of this theory is that it fails to take into account the real life scenario of black holes with charge and spin angular momentum. The black hole is based on event horizon and Schwarzschild radius. However, Physicists were trying to develop a metric for the real life scenario of a black hole with a spin angular momen-tum and ultimately the exact solution of a charged rotating black hole had been discovered by Roy Kerr in 1965 as the Kerr-Newman metric[2][3]. The Kerr metric is one of the toughest metric in physics and is the extensional generalization to a rotating body of the Schwarzschild metric. The metric describes the vacuum geometry of space-time around a rotating axially-symmetric black hole with a quasipotential event horizon. In Kerr metric there are two event hori-zons (inner and outer), two ergospheres and an ergosurface. The most important effect of the Kerr metric is the frame dragging (also known as Lense-Thirring Precession) is a distinctive prediction of General relativity. The first direct observation of the collision of two Kerr Black Holes has been discovered by LIGO in 2016 hence setting up a milestone of General Relativity in the history of Physics. Here, the Kerr metric has been introduced in the Boyer-Lindquist forms and it is derived from the Schwarzschild metric using the Spin-Coefficient formalism. According to the "Cosmic Censorship Hypothesis", a naked singularity cannot exist in nature as nature always hides the singularity via an event horizon. However, in this paper I will prove the existence of the "Naked Singularity" taking the advantage of the Ring Singularity of the Kerr Black Hole and thereby making the way to manipulate the mathematics by taking the larger root of Δ as zero and thereby vanishing the ergosphere and event horizon making the way for the naked ring singularity which can be easily connected via a cylindrical wormhole and as 'a wormhole is a black hole without an event horizon' therefore, this cylindrical connection paved the way for the Einstein-Rosen Bridge allowing particles or null rays to travel from one universe to another ending up in a future directed Cauchy horizon while changing constantly from spatial to temporal and again spatial paving the entrance to another Kerr Black hole (which would act as a white hole) in the other universes. I will not go in detail about the contradiction of 'Chronology Protection Conjecture" [4]whether the Stress-Energy-Momentum Tensor can violate the ANEC (Average Null Energy Conditions) or not with the values of less than zero or greater than, equal to zero, instead I will focus definitely on the creation of the mathematical formulation of a wormhole from a Naked Ring Kerr Singularity of a Kerr Black Hole without any event horizon or ergosphere. Another important thing to mention in this paper is that I have taken the time to be imaginary[5] as because, a singularity being an eternal point of time can only be smoothen out if the time is imaginary rather than real which will allow the particle or null rays inside a wormhole to cross the singularity and making entrance to the other universe. The final conclusion would be to determine the mass-energy equivalence principle as spin angular momentum increases with a decrease in BH mass due to the vanishing event horizon and ergosphere thereby maintaining the equivalence via apparent and absolute masses in relation to spin J along the orthogonal Z axis. A 'NAKED SINGULARITY' alters every parameters of a BH and to include this parameters along with affine spin coefficient, it has been proved that without any spin angular momentum the generation of wormhole and vanishing of event horizon and singularity is not possible.


Posited as a "parallel history" of the digital humanities, the catalyst for Transmedia Frictions: The Digital, the Arts, and the Humanities was a 1999 conference entitled "Interactive Frictions." According to editors Marsha Kinder and Tara McPherson, "transmedia" supplanted "interactive" in the anthology's title due to the centrality of the former to "arguments about medium specificity" (p. xvi). Frictions' stated mandate is to probe consonances between transmediality and transnationality; how demarcation simultaneously elucidates an entity—be it a medium or a nation—as both singular and enmeshed. Surely, in the post–Convergence Culture era, media are deserving of renewed specificity. As much as I appreciate Henry Jenkins's veneration of fan cultural production, his flattening tendencies (particularly regarding audience engagement) are persistently irksome; moreso as disciples uncritically perpetuate his gospel. Furthermore, this supposed trans symmetry engenders enticing considerations of dual citizenry. To what extent are our (increasingly mediated) identities defined through the polarities of coherence and contrast? Do we navigate and negotiate technical and/or digital boundaries as we do their geopolitical counterparts? As necessary, therefore, as this endeavor is, a conspicuous incongruence gnaws at the heart of Frictions. Namely, in the pivot from a conference centering on issues of interactivity to a collection concerning transmediality— neither synonymous nor mutually exclusive concepts—our curators have offered only the briefest paean to media-specific analysis as justification. Is transmedia simply a trendier term? If indeed a history, why not own "interactivity" in all its moldering glory? The repercussions of the exchange are all but elided and, consequently, the impressive cadre of scholars featured herein are left to twist in the wind. Stephen Mamber, by no means exclusively, treats in interactivity specifically; asserting that "the consequences of interactive choice are one of the biggest issues with digital works" (p. 120,


RESULTS: At the end of the intervention, there were significant improvements on power output (p=0.002), ventilatory threshold (p=0.002), and lactate threshold (p=0.001) in the boxing group compared to the control group. Additionally, there was a significant reduction on VO2max in the control group (p=0.04). CONCLUSION: Individuals with prehypertension who underwent 6 weeks of boxing training improve the peripheral component of their cardiovascular fitness based on a significant enhancement in their lactate thresholds and ventilatory thresholds, which in turn produces power output increments. Boxing training may be a suitable exercise alternative to be prescribed in high blood pressure population.


Abstract Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have been demonstrated to improve overall survival (OS) in several cancer types. Atypical patterns of response have been reported including durable responses, pseudoprogression and hyperprogression. We evaluated the occurrence of dissociated response (DR) on immunotherapy. Methods We retrieved all patients treated at the Curie Institute with an ICI either alone or in combination with another ICI in the frame of a clinical trial. Patients had to have a baseline CT-scan and at least one follow-up CT-scan, and at least two target lesions (TLs). There was no selection on tumor type. All TLs on CT-scans were assessed by two independent readers according to RECIST 1.1. Three types of DR were evaluated: 1) one TL in partial or complete response (CR/PR) and one progressive TL (DR1), 2) one stable TL and one progressive TL (DR2), and 3) one TL in CR/PR and one stable TL (DR3). Finally, we evaluated the impact of previous radiotherapy and biopsy on TLs on the occurrence of DRs. Results 1,246 measures of 272 TLs were performed in the 100 patients who met our inclusion criteria. The median number of TLs per patient was 3 [range: 2-5]. 49 out of the 272 TLs (18%) had received prior radiotherapy, and 38 (14%) had been biopsied. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 3.8 months. Median OS was 13.4 months. Best overall response per patient was a PR/CR in 22%, stable disease (SD) in 33% and progressive disease (PD) in 45%. Best overall response on 272 TLs was a PR/CR in 52 TLs (19%), SD in 142 TLs (52%) and PD in 78 TLs (29%). DR1 were observed in 8% of patients, whereas DR2 and DR3 were observed in 44% and 10% of patients, respectively. While prior irradiation on TLs did not correlate with the occurrence of DRs, DRs were more common when one TL was biopsied ORa = 2.22 (1.28, 3.86) (p = 0.004). Conclusions DR with a responding TL and a progressive TL according to RECIST1.1 was observed in 8% of patients. While prior irradiation on TLs did not correlate with the occurrence of DRs, DRs were more common when one TL was biopsied. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure D. Loirat: Advisory / Consultancy, Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: MSD; Advisory / Consultancy: Novartis; Honoraria (institution), Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Roche; Advisory / Consultancy: AstraZeneca; Advisory / Consultancy, Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: BMS; Advisory / Consultancy: Pfizer. C. Le Tourneau: Advisory / Consultancy: MSD; Advisory / Consultancy: BMS; Advisory / Consultancy: Amgen; Advisory / Consultancy: Merck; Advisory / Consultancy: Serono; Advisory / Consultancy: Roche; Advisory / Consultancy: AstraZeneca; Advisory / Consultancy: Nanobiotix; Advisory / Consultancy: GSK. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Although a good deal of his work was seen in London and New York, the name of Max Reinhardt remains for most English-speaking theatre students all-too-vaguely associated with those innovations which helped to give a new importance to the 'totality' of the relationship between actors, audience, stage lighting and design, movement and music, in the earlier part of this century. Even less is known here about one of Reinhardt's leading collaborators. Ernst Stern – the longest-serving, most versatile, and most professional of his designers. Yet Stern settled in England in 1933, and left his papers to the Victoria and Albert Museum, upon whose resources Hugh Rorrison has drawn in assembling this view of Stern's contribution to Reinhardt's theatre in particular, and to twentieth-Century scenography in general. Hugh Rorrison, who was a regular contributor to the original series of Theatre Quarterly, teaches in the Department of German of the University of Leeds.


This paper exanlines Ihrcc competing hypotheses: racial threat, social contact and racial resentment. Using individual level and aggregate level data. these three hypotheses are tested by examining white racial attitudes, and a variety of contextual variables, on the prospective vote for a white racially conservative candidate. The evidence provides support for all three of these hypotheses. Racial threat is found to be conditioned by the black population density and the resent- ment that whites direct toward African Americans. The probability that a white person will support a racially conservative candidate does not depend solely on the black population. Indeed. it is reported here that racially sympathetic whites, who live in areas with high black populationdensities are highly unlikely to support a racially conservative candidatc. providing support for the social contact hypothcsis. On h e other hand, whites living in the same context. but who express rescnunenl toward African Americans, are almost certain to support dle racially conservative candidatc. Thesc findings point to an innovative approach to examining tlie racial threat hypothesis.


In a prospective study, borderline (BPD) but not antisocial (ASP) personality or bipoTFtype II correlated with the presence of psychotic or psychotic over a 1–year follow–up period. Psychotic symptoms were not associated with stressful life events but wenfossociated with the use of borderline defenses (splitting, projective identification) in coping with life events. Both BPD and ASP had high rates of depression recurrences, whereas concurrent ASP and BPD had significantly lower rates than expected. Self–rated estimates of stress for the year's life events generally correlated with higher annualized recurrence rates. The use of both borderline and action defenses (passive–aggression, acting out, hypochondriasis) in coping with life events correlated with higher depression rates.


The mutual excitation between the local stimuli satisfying the rules of curve distribution (position and orientation continuity) called curve self-excitation is a useful method to discover and enhance curves and to inhibit noise. The Present approaches used parallel connection structure division which did not acquire effect. This paper presents the idea of random time division and dynamic self-excitation, for different curves performing random time-division Searches, time coincidence filtering, and Self excitation accumulation . The Principle is given.


Local activism and collective action.
The birth of local Greenpeace groups in France at the beginning of 21th century
sociology of activism


The present work is about the matter of the new family entities which thrive in the
Brazilian and the international society and their possible modifications in the legal scope, mainly in Family Law. An approach of the main historical facts which have led to the current situation is made, and the important events rising in this context are analysed. For that purpose, the evolution of the family institute in time is approached, the inherent psychological and religious questions are exposed, the possible legal frameworks which might be given to them are searched, an analysis of landmarks in case law in the matter at hand is made, and its development in foreign States which maintan a close influential relationship with the Brazilian State is studied. It is attempted, thus, to project the scenario of this matter in near future and the consequences which might follow certain policies. Maturing the matter in such a way in which the values and policies aimed for the development of Brazil are respected is pursued.


Series on Transition. The series provides practical information and resources for transition personnel on topics critical to prepare individuals for the challenges of adulthood. Luckner's volume is designed to assist parents, teachers, students, agencies, and other professionals in developing effective transition plans and programming that will help individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing reach their potential in postsecondary settings (work, school, community). The book is organized into 13 chapters with three appendices and a list of references.


Restraining factors on the transformation of social sciences achievements in colleges and universities include two: namely on the micro level is restrained by ideas and achievements quality,on the macro level is restrained by the market mechanism and management system.The countermeasures: changing the traditional ideas of the research,develop the agencies and perfect the mechanism.


Summary Background Nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) is a transcription factor involved in a number of signalling pathways in many cell types. NF‐κB in mice has been implicated as an important regulator of keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation.


Multiband code division multiple access (sometimes called multicarrier CDMA) is a promising approach to increasing the capacity of CDMA networks, while maintaining compati- bility with existing systems. This paper investigates a family of algorithms for allocating new calls to bands based on measured path gains, or alternatively, on estimates of the users' positions. By separating strong and weak users into separate bands, this approach reduces the other-cell interference on the uplink. This is shown to reduce the number of calls in soft handoff, which reduces the hardware requirements at the base stations. Under a range of conditions, it also provides significantly lower outage than alternative algorithms. An additional benefit of this approach is a reduction in the dynamic range required for uplink power control. Index Terms—Cell tiers, hybrid FDMA/CDMA, nonuniform power control, resource management.


The article is devoted to problems of Russia's integration into the United European educational space. The author analyses different aspects of the Russian education system reforming: the structure of multilevel education, the problem of development of national qualifying requirements compatible with the all-European rating system, etc.


Pressure seals in the Anadarko basin contain distinct diagenetic bands that play a significant role in the isolation of high-pressure domains. Both sand-rich and clay-rich clastic rocks exhibit banding patterns. Banding in sandstones results primarily from the processes of pressure solution, pore-fluid interaction, and precipitation. Some banding patterns in clay-rich rocks appear to form independently of sedimentary textures while others result from the enhancement or modification of sedimentary features. All of these bands are noticeably absent in rocks that were never buried deeply enough to be overpressured. Diagenetic bands in sandstones consist of silica- and carbonate-cemented layers that are separated by clay-coated porous layers. Stylolites and other pressure-solution features such as penetrating grain boundaries suggest a mechanism for the derivation of silica cements. Diagenetic bands in clay-rich rocks appear to have two distinctly different origins. In the Pink/Red Fork interval, diagenetic chlorite bands exhibit no apparent relationship to sedimentary features. The chlorite bands have less porosity and smaller pore-aperture radii than the surrounding shale (Powers, 1991). In the Woodford Shale, silica- and clay-rich bands develop via the diagenetic modification or enhancement of sedimentary features.


Purpose: To study if the magnitude and frequency of artifacts in 4D CTimages and the imaging dose for real‐time image sorting methods will decrease compared to retrospective 4D CT sorting methods. Method and Materials: 4D CTimage acquisition was simulated with current retrospective phase sorting (RPCT), and three real‐time sorting methods: direction dependent displacement sorting (DDCT), simultaneous displacement and phase sorting (DPCT), and simultaneous displacement and velocity based sorting (DVCT). Respiratory signals and corresponding tumor positions were acquired with the Cyberknife Synchrony system for 58 motion data sets of 4 minutes each. Results: The mean artifact magnitude in the reconstructed 4D CTimages for the real‐time methods was at least a factor of 2 smaller compared to RPCT. The dose delivered during image acquisition was at least a factor of 2 less for DDCT compared to RPCT. Image acquisition time per couch position for the real‐time methods increased by a factor of 2 to 3. With displacement tolerances of 0.5mm, artifacts > 2mm were reduced from 33% for RPCT to 8% for DDCT, while artifacts > 4mm were reduced from 14% for RPCT to 1% for DDCT. The maximum artifact magnitude was the smallest for DVCT and in most cases a factor of 2 smaller for DDCT compared to RPCT, up to a factor of 6 smaller in the extreme cases. Conclusion: This work showed that the frequency and magnitude of artifacts in reconstructed 4D CTimages and the dose delivered during image acquisition can be reduced markedly if a real‐time sorting method is used instead of RPCT. However, real‐time sorting methods lead to 2–3 fold increases in image acquisition time. It is concluded from this work that DDCT is the better sorting method to use for 4D CTimage reconstruction.


How has teachers' work changed during the 20th century? This question is addressed in this dissertation that deals with two aspects of teachers' work: moral education/discipline and care. The two a ...


Rapidly rising costs have resulted in fiscal restraints to hospital laboratory services in Ontario. This has removed much of the incentive for hospital labo¬ ratories to provide service to outpa¬ tients or to perform tests referred in from the community. One approach to containing costs is for the laboratories of a group of neighbouring hospitals to collaborate to provide inpatient and outpatient diagnostic services for the community, thus avoiding unnecessary duplication of personnel, equipment and space. In a university setting the professional personnel who provide the service can participate in the provision of education at all levels as well as contributing to medical research. This article describes the cooperative development over the past 4 years of


The present invention, each having an outer surface, essentially comprising an electrically insulating material consisting of fluoropolymers, and two or more elongate element, the elongate least one conductive member disposed in at least one of the elements If, it consists essentially of fluoropolymer, an electrophysiology lead body and a cover surrounding the elongate element.


This volume provides a detailed study and assessment of social movements among young Japanese from the late 1980s until the present day. Discussing anti-war mobilizations, freeter unions, artists in the homeless movement, campus protest, anti-nuclear protest and activists engaged in support for social withdrawers, the author documents how new forms of activism developed hand-in-hand with experiments in using alternative spaces outside mainstream public areas and a struggle with the traumatic legacy of the failure of earlier protest movements. Despite the relative absence of open protest during much of the 1990s, the author demonstrates that this was an important preparatory period, full of experimentation, in which the foundations for today's protest movements were laid. This book will be welcomed by students of sociological theory relating to Japan as well as those studying the trends and dynamics of contemporary 'post-Bubble' Japanese society.


Pervasive applications over large-scale, distributed embedded devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) demand precise coordination with the network; for example, several such applications, like collaborative video streaming and live analysis, augmented reality, etc., need continuous monitoring of network throughput and adapt the application behavior accordingly. Although the idea of network throughput prediction is not new and quite dated, in this paper, we show that the existing approaches fail to correctly infer the throughput when the network operator or the device change, and thus, not generic enough for Internet-scale applications. We propose \ourmethod, a novel approach that allows collaborative training across different client hardware by capturing throughput variations based on devices' sensitivity towards the corresponding network configurations. Rigorous evaluations show that \ourmethod{} outperforms various standard baseline algorithms with more than $80\%$ R2-score over different datasets. We also analyze the performance of \ourmethod{} over a network-aware streaming media application and demonstrate its efficacy for various application scenarios.


Survey was carried out to study the distribution, infestation and damaging level of insect pests of black pepper during 2013/2014 cropping season in Southwestern Ethiopia. Insect pests were observed and identified at their sites in the surveyed areas. In addition, samples of insect pests and infected plant parts were collected and insect images were taken. The samples were diagnosed in Tepi National Spice Research Center laboratory. A total of twenty two species of insect pests were recorded as black pepper insect pest with different rate of infestation and damage level. Biting black ants (Tetramorium species), black pepper flea beetle (Longitarsus species), leaf gal trips (Liothrips species), and stink bugs (Pentatomidae) were recorded with relatively high infestation and damage level from all surveyed area, while others were considered as intermediate and minor pest due to low infestation and damage level. Therefore, it is important to design control options for these major insect pests to ensure plant health and pest action under economic threshold level.


In this ground-breaking synthesis of evolutionary and cultural theory, Wendy Wheeler draws on the new field of complex adaptive systems and biosemiotics in order to argue that - far from being opposed to nature - culture is the way that nature has evolved in human beings. Her argument is that these evolutionary processes reveal the fundamental sociality of human creatures, and she thus rejects the selfish individualism that is implied both in the biological reductionism of much recent evolutionary psychology, and in the philosophies of neoliberalism. She shows, instead, that the complex structures of biosemiotic evolution have always involved a creativity which is born from the difficult but productive phenomenological encounter between the Self and its Others; and she argues that this creativity, in both the sciences and the humanities, is fundamental to human progress. In this major contribution to both cultural studies and ecocriticism, Wheeler shows how complexity and biosemiotics forge the link between nature and culture, and provide a new and better understanding of how 'the whole human creature' operates as both social and biological being.


students and researchers alike. The book is divided into three sections: Physiology and Adaptive Mechanisms; Molecular Genetics, and Applied Aspects. The section on Physiology and Adaptive Mechanisms includes five chapters that successfully integrate current knowledge about N acquisition and assimilation. The emphasis on uptake systems and how they are regulated at the cellular level is successfully integrated with chapters on assimilation and growth responses (roots, leaves and whole canopies). An interesting chapter on the challenging topic of regulation of C/N interaction. successfully integrates the functional information of the earlier chapters into a coherent statement of integrated C and N metabolism. The section on Molecular Genetics provides a useful insight into the use of quantitative trait loci and the usefulness of the approach in breeding programmes for increased nitrogen use efficiency. The section includes a challenging chapter on how best to integrate currently fragmentary knowledge about processes and physiology into a more integrated view of the regulation of N management from the gene to the field. This is discussed in the context of advances in plant molecular biotechnology. The section on Applied Aspects comprises chapters that effectively challenge the current knowledge base and the relevance of scientific effort in N relations in crops. These chapters are well integrated and review succinctly how current knowledge is being applied and, importantly, provide a reference for the prioritizing of future research effort.


Reaction of 7-amino-6-nitro-[1,2,5]oxadiazolo[3,4-b]pyridine 1-oxide (1, namely pyridofuroxan) with ammonia or/and amines under mild conditions led to furoxan ring-opening, release of HNO and the formation of corresponding 5-nitro-3-nitroso-2,4-diaminopyridine 5a~5f. It is shown that the ring-opening reactivity of pyridofuroxan 1 was significantly affected by the 6-nitro substituent. The structures of all target compounds were identified by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR and HRMS. The biological evaluation was performed on H522 (human lung cancer cell line) and U87 (glioma cell line) by 3-(4,5-dimethylthigal-2-yl)-2,5-(diphenyltetragalium) bromide (MTT) assay. The results suggested that all of the target compounds exhibited potent anti-tumor activities in vitro.


The development of infrastructure in Malaysia have been expand and more development within slope area were build widely that cause many slope failures.
The dilemma that engineers nowadays face are to determine the suitability of the analysis methods and construction cost that is one of the main problems that cause
lack of quality in construction of any infrastructure especially in slopes area. The knowledge of analysis and design of slope stability and the suitability of the slope protection used has been crucial to prevent any disaster happen. There were different methods used for slope stability analysis such as Ordinary, Bishop, Janbu,, Spencer, Sharma etc including various types of slope protection used in Malaysia occording to the suitability and costing. The objectives of this study are to compare the various methods of slope stability analysis used and hence determine the optimum cost for the selected slope protection. This study was made based on two selected slopes at
Lot 4189, Bandar Tanjong Bungah, Jalan Selari Pantai Utara, Pulau Pinang using Ordinary, Bishop, Janbu dan Morgenstern-Price methods. The analysis were
performed by using software GeoStudio 2007. The result of the analysis showed that Morgenstem-Price method was the realistic and reasonable method that can be used in analysing both of the selected slopes while Reinforced concrete retaining wall gives the optimum cost for both selected slopes.


Useful as an agent in the treatment of diseases and conditions including inflammatory diseases, diabetes, obesity, cancer and AIDS, wherein the formulas (I) (A1, A2, A3, A4, J, L, G and R1 are described herein) And the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, which have any of the values defined for them in the text. Also described are pharmaceutical compositions comprising one or more compounds of formula I.


The article provides an overview of the classical theories of innovative development, reveals the underlying reasons for a person's motivation to implement innovative activities. Based on a review of classical theories of innovation and research results, it is proved that the innovative development of an enterprise depends not only on the quality level of the intellectual potential of the personnel, but also on the state of the objects of its economic resources. The conceptual level of categories of innovations has been determined, which can give an idea of the innovative foundations of the reconstitution of economic resources and the intellectual potential of personnel at Ukrainian enterprises in modern economic, military-political and epidemiological conditions. The principles for the formation of a new strategy of economic development based on a scientific approach to the formation of models for managing business processes, especially innovative processes of enterprises, have been developed. Their essence is demonstrated with the help of the planning mechanism of the innovative level of reconstitution of economic resources at the enterprise. A model of innovative reconstitution of economic resources at an enterprise and stages of formation of a strategy for innovative development of enterprises in a modern information and digital society have been developed. It has been established that the basis of the strategy for the innovative development of an enterprise should be the reconstitution of its economic resources. This is a fundamentally new strategy for the economic development of an enterprise, which requires the development of a balanced system of indicators for the innovative reconstitution of economic resources. The creation and implementation of such a strategy involves overcoming internal obstacles in order to ensure the trend of innovative development and competitiveness of the domestic enterprise.


and the sacrifices of the pioneers of liberation theology went beyond this, inspiring many other people's movements of liberation. Given the global realities of economic inequalities and rise of exclusivism manifested in violent resistance to the other, liberation theology that articulates the love of God and its intentional option for the poor and the marginalised is even more urgently needed today." (106) These initial essays set the parameters of this debate. Given that the two editors and a number of the other contributors are Scandinavian, this gives the collection special interest for a wider readership who may be unaware of their non-English work. Sigríður Guðmarsdóttir examines Iceland's banking disaster of 2008 and offers "a postcolonial reading of the economic bubble exploring white Viking mythologies and exceptionalism of a postcolonial nation in economic meltdown" (123). Teresa Callewaert, similarly, uses 'liberating theology' in various forms to argue that "theological thought can contribute another story about what human life and ultimate purposes are about" to counter "the horrendous suffering and vacuous uniformity of modern global capitalism" (136). Bergmann, too, uses liberating theology, specifically in the context of radical climate change, to envisage "a transformation into another period when humans are no longer masters and rulers of Creation, but subjects of Creation, no longer shepherds but sheep in a flock, no longer alleged givers but true receivers of life" (174). Panu Pihkala follows this with an examination of 'eco-anxiety' in which "many people feel sorrow because of the many losses involved: for humans, for other animals, for places and ecosystems" (182). Finally, Mika Vähäkangas argues that the academic discipline of theology needs to shift away from being "a Christian enterprise in dialogue with Western modernity" to become, instead, "an interreligious process in which religions and (post)modernities are in interaction with each other" (234). He particularly champions studies in World Christianity. The Scandinavian perspectives pull in different directions, but they do help to widen various debates within theology and religious studies. Together they make this collection distinct and valuable, albeit expensive when purchased in printed form.


Irregular sum problem (ISP) is an issue resulted from mathematical problems and graph theories. It has the characteristic that when the problem size is getting bigger, the space of the solution is also become larger. Therefore, while searching for the feasible solution, the larger the question the harder the attempt to come up with an efficient search. We propose a new genetic algorithm, called the Incremental Improving Genetic Algorithm (IIGA), which is considered efficient and has the capability to incrementally improve itself from partial solutions. The initial solutions can be constructed by satisfying the constraints in stepwise fashion. The effectiveness of IIGA also comes from the allowing of suitable percentage of illegal solutions during the evolution for increasing the effectiveness of searching. The cut-point of the genetic coding for generating the descendants has carefully planned so that the algorithm can focus on the key factors for the contradiction and has the chances to fix it. After comparing the results of IIGA and usual genetic algorithm among different graphs, we found and shown that the performance of IIGA is truly better.


This paper describes the programmable sampling format telemetry system to be used by the near-earth Small Astronomy Satellite-C (SAS-C) and possible future SAS missions. The concept of the programmable sampling format is introduced and the features of the system are illustrated by an example. The SAS-C telemetry system is described at the block diagram level and redundancy of the system is discussed briefly.


With the rapid development of wind power technology, offshore wind power have become the hot topic of renewable energy of the world. The paper introduces the technology development and utilization status of offshore wind power in the whole world. And the planning of the further offshore wind power of other countries are also presented, their experience about the installation, support structure for offshore farm are summarized.


is given to the emergency relief period which began in the early 30's and continues to the present. Part II deals with the subject "The Present System in Operation," and emphasis is on the size and cost of the public assistance program, the haphazard administration of the general relief program, and the administrative problems inherent in the confused relations between and among categorical assistance, federal work relief, and general relief. Part III is entitled "A Program for the Future," and in it the author favors a federal grant-in-aid system with federal supervision over a permanent state department, which in turn would supervise somewhat enlarged local administrative units, which would retain responsibility for direct administration in accordance with federal and state regulations. Financial responsiblity would be shared by the three "levels" of government, with grants based on "needs and resources." Dr. Stafford evidently bases his advocacy of the grant-in-aid system on his own appraisal that the "device is now developinig high standards of personnel, administration, organization, and operational techniques in the categorical relief services throughout the country." (p. 283). This reviewer believes that such an appraisal cannot be accepted without serious modification, and questions whether the "local self-government" advocated will result in anything much more than "streamlining" the same old poor laws with chaotic adminstration of archaic statutes, by inadequate personnel. The old age assistance recipients in the poll-tax states of the South receive grants of from $5.00 to $10.00 monthly and the grant-in-aid system is not a success from their standpoint. Of course one recognizes that Dr. Stafford's proposals cannot be annihilated by this comment, and the grant-in-aid system has accomplished some improvement, even though its alleged virtues may really be its vices. Appreciating the need for compactness in treatment of these materials, and recognizing that legislative and administrative aspects of the public assistance programs deserve careful study, this reviewer hopes that in the future similar contributions will place more stress on what happens to the recipients of these various agencies. On the whole, Dr. Stafford has made a substantial contribution to the literature of the field, and additional studies should be made, not only in New Jersey, but in other states as well.—FRANK T. FLYNN.


[Objective] To study the efficacy of microwave tissue coagulation combined with "Savary-Gilliard" rod dilation via endoscopy in the treatment of anastomotic-stenosis after esophageal and/or gastric cardiac cancer operation. [Methods] 90 cases of anastomotic-stenosis after esophageal and gastric cardiac cancer operation were divided into three groups at random, viz. Microwave tissue coagulation group/the first group, "Savary-Gilliard" rod dilation group/the second group and combination group/the third group. [Results] The effective rates (CR+PR) were 93.3% in Microwave tissue coagulation group, 100% in "Savary-Gilliard" rod dilation group, 100% (compared with the former two groups P 0.05) in combination group after one week's treatment. The rates were 70%, 16.7% and 93.3% (compared with the first group P 0.05, compared with the second group P 0.01) after one month's treatment and 53.3%, 6.7% and 86.7% (compared with the former two groups P 0.01) after three month's treatment in the respective groups. [Conclusions] The therapy of microwave tissue coagulation in combination with "Savary-Gilliard" rod dilation via endoscopy is choice of treatment in anastomotic-stenosis after esophageal and/or gastric cardiac cancer operation.


The excessive teacher workload has been the obstacle to school development in UK. The Department of Education and Skills has realized the importance of this problem and began to take a series of measures directed towards tackling teacher workload. Moreover, the announcement of the 32 pilot schools marks the official commencement of the Project of Reducing Teacher Workload in the UK.


Background and Objectives. The pneumococcal urinary antigen test (UAT) has superior sensitivity to other investigations in determining the aetiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), but data specific to Australian populations is limited. This study aimed to establish the prevalence and clinical utility of positive UAT in patients admitted to hospital with CAP, as well as associations with positive testing. Methods. A prospective, cross-sectional, single-centre study was performed. Urine antigen tests were performed on all adult patients admitted to hospital with the diagnosis of CAP. Sputum and blood culture results, CURB-65 score of severity, current and prior antibiotics, comorbidities, mortality, and length of hospital stay were recorded. Results. There was a positive test prevalence of 13/170 [7.6% (95% confidence intervals 4.3–13%)]. The overall prevalence of pneumococcal pneumonia was 19/170 (11%), including 8 patients confirmed on positive UAT alone. Patients with a positive UAT result had a higher mean CURB-65 score compared with those with a negative result (𝑃=0.01), and a greater likelihood of requiring intensive care support (𝑃=0.006). Conclusions. The prevalence of positive UAT was low. Positive results were more often recorded in those with greater severity pneumonia. The clinical utility of the test in this cohort of patients was low.


The invention provides a prefabricated transformer substation box heat dissipation channel structure which comprises an air inlet channel and an air outlet channel which are arranged on the substation box. The substation box comprises a box head cover and a box body. The box body is located on a pedestal. The air outlet channel is arranged around an upper wall of the box head cover. The air inlet channel is arranged around a bottom wall of the box body. Several support seats are fixed on the pedestal which is located on the bottom of the box body. A porous septum is fixed above the support seats. The porous septum is used for transmitting air in the air inlet channel to the box body and the hot-air in the box is discharged through the air outlet channel. The structure can guarantee effective heat exchanges in the whole box so that temperature rise can be greatly reduced, service life of components in the prefabricated transformer substation, especially the service life of a transformer, can be prolonged and electric energy consumption can be reduced.


Im receiving loads of questions from my visitors who want to learn how to add an email signup box to their blog. It could be a headache for a beginner ...


Clustering for hyperspectral images (HSIs) is a very challenging task because HSIs usually have large spectral variability, high dimensionality, and complex structures. The main issue of this study is to develop an improved sparse subspace clustering (SSC) method for HSIs. As an extension of spectral clustering, SSC algorithm has achieved great success; however, the direct self-representation dictionary which is created by raw samples has poor representation power and also the widely used dictionary learning (DL) such as K-Singular Value Decomposition (K-SVD) faces with the problems of high computational complexity. In this study, the authors propose a novel HSI clustering method based on sparse DL and anchored regression. The proposed method follows three stages: (i) sparse DL; (ii) anchored subspace construction and regression; and (iii) representation-based spectral clustering. Specifically, we adopt a fast sparse DL method under a double sparsity constrained optimising model to capture the intrinsic HSIs. To establish a compact subspace for collaborative representation, we present an anchored subspace construction method by using atoms clustering and grouping methods. Owing to the anchored subspace, we can fast compute the representation coefficients with a predefined projection matrix. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves the best performance for the HSIs clustering.


Nerve growth factor (NGF) is essential for neuronal development and differentiation. Recent reports have shown that its low‐affinity receptor (LNGFR) is expressed and developmentally regulated in a broad range of embryonic and adult tissues outside the nervous system, although the functions of the receptor in such tissues remain unknown. Recently, NGF and LNGFR have been detected in adult mouse, rat, and human testis.


In the field of medical science, identification of cancer is a very challenging task. The purpose of this paper is to diagnose ovarian cancer in females and prostate cancer in male and their condition by using the Mamdani Fuzzy inference system. The system has four components namely fuzzy knowledge base, the fuzzifier, inference engine and Defuzzifier. Proposed system can be used as a second reader which helps to identify the status of ovarian cancer in females and prostate cancer in male by entering his report's consequences and finding the outcomes which are Non-cancerous, acute cancer or chronic cancer. An intelligent system is proposed to specify ovarian cancer and Prostate cancer by using MFIS. The proposed system has seven input variables, CA-125 and AFP are used to identify ovarian cancer in women, PSA-Region, Region, and CEA used to identify Prostate Cancer in Men. The results were achieved using the Mamdani Fuzzy Inference System to model complex ovarian cancer and Prostate cancer process.


This paper will explore a project associated with the National Science Foundation STEM GK-12 Program at Drexel University titled "Catalyzing STEM Education via the NAE Grand Challenges" (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org) that serves to address the need for more STEM educated workers. Specifically, the Drexel NSF STEM GK-12 program pairs ten College of Engineering graduate students (Fellows) with ten School District of Philadelphia high school teachers to help introduce engineering concepts to high school students through the context of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges. This work in progress explores a high school project facilitated by a fellow/teacher partnership at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, an all-girls urban school. There are about 70 general education 11th grade students in environmental science classes participating in this project. The goal of the project is to increase awareness and interest for STEM fields in the students as well as increase awareness of privacy issues relating to electronic media/devices.


Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a breathing disorder characterized by episodes of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), is an independent risk for systemic hypertension. Furthermore, 20–60% of OSA patients develop moderate pulmonary hypertension (PH). Rats exposed to CIH developed pulmonary vascular remodeling and PH, but the mechanisms underlaying these responses are not well known. Stim‐activated TRPC‐ORAI channel (STOC), cationic calciumpermeable channels, are overexpressed in the lung and plays a key role in the development of pulmonary vascular remodeling and PH in animals exposed to sustained hypoxia. We previously demonstrated that STOC are overexpressed in lung of rats exposed to CIH. However, whether these channels are involved in the pulmonary vascular remodeling and PH induced by CIH have not been addressed. Thus, we studied the effects of treatment of 2‐aminoethyldiphenylborinate (2‐APB), a STOC blocker, in rats exposed to CIH. Male Sprague‐Dawley rats (~200g) were exposed for 28 days to CIH (5% O2, 12 times/h, for 8h). At 14 days of CIH, rats under anesthesia were implanted with osmotic pumps containing 2‐APB (10 mg/kg/day) or its vehicle, and then rats were exposed to CIH for 14 more days. At the end of CIH exposure, the right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) was measure under anesthesia with urethane/α‐cloralose (800 mg/kg, i.p). Animals were then euthanized and lungs dissected to determine vascular remodeling in arteries of 200–300 μm, and the mRNA levels of the STOC forming subunits TRPC1, TRPC4, TRPC6, ORAI 1 and ORAI 2 by qPCR. 2‐APB infusion prevented the increase of the RVSP (36.5 ± 1.1 mmHg vs. 24.7 ± 1.6 mmHg, 28d‐CIH vs. 2‐APB respectively), and the pulmonary vascular remodeling (66.3 ± 9.4 % vs 48.2 ± 3.5 %, CIH, 28d‐CIH vs. 2‐APB, respectively). In addition, 2‐APB treatment reverted the increase in the mRNA levels of TRPC1, TRPC4 and TRPC6, but induced an overexpression of ORAI 1, while ORAI 2 remained unchanged. Present results suggest that STOC plays a key role in the developing of the vascular remodeling and pulmonary hypertension induced by CIH.


In December 2004 AIM started the series production of the HuntIR long range thermal weapon sight. The sight is fielded in the Germany Future Infantryman (IdZ) basic system and since that time in continuous service in various out of area missions with German participation. For very long identification ranges >1500m cooled technology still outperforms uncooled sights, even with respect to smaller size and lower weight because the typical F/1 design of uncooled systems overcompensates cooler weight for focal length >175mm. The HuntIR sight is therefore based on a cooled MWIR detection module for long range battlefield surveillance and target engagement. The device specifically is a perfect match to state of the art small arms like 0.50 cal sniper rifles or crew served weapons like the 40mm high velocity grenade machine gun (GMG) which provide engagement ranges >1500m and need an adequate sight performance beyond that. A recent modification of HuntIR was done to provide a wider field of view for improved situation awareness in urban operations and specifically to allow the engagement of the 40mm GMG in ranges between 250-1200m. The qualification tests of the sight by the German infantry were successfully completed mid 2006. To match the demand of the follow-up program IdZ-ES additional components have to be integrated. Most important are a laser range finder (LRF), 3 axis digital magnetic compass (DMC) and a wireless data link. LRF and DMC together with a highly sophisticated fire control computer provide improved first round hit probability, the DMC additionally improves the fire control in any case of steep trajectories or for pronounced ballistic trajectories to avoid any need to precisely level the GMG. This new sight is done under the brand name RangIR. An important additional feature is the interface for air burst ammunition (ABM). The optical distance is measured by the LRF, the fire control computer accurately evaluates the trajectory under the given angle, muzzle velocity, temperature and range conditions to define the time-of-flight. This fully integrated IR fire control system is available mid 2007. The development phase of the IdZES program is under contract, series deliveries expected in 2009. The RangIR will see some specific modifications for the link and a man machine interface to control the whole IdZ-ES system components ergonomically from the weapon with optimized power supply concepts to minimize the number of batteries, chargers etc.


The Four-Color Mapping Problem has been solved using different optimization algorithms. Harmony Search (HS) is one of those algorithms, which is based on the imitation of the behavior of musicians when composing their music. The HS algorithm can be summarized in three steps... initialization, improvisation, and selection. We introduced in this paper an approach to enhance the performance of HS algorithm, in solving the Four-Color Mapping Problem. A modification has been applied to the initialization section of the HS algorithm, which affects the improvisation process, resulting in a boost in the performance of the improvisation process, and consequently, reducing the time and number of cycles taken to solve the Four-Color Mapping Problem compared to the HS algorithm. In this paper, tests have been carried out on maps with different numbers of regions, using both HS and Modified Harmony Search (MHS) algorithms. The obtained results of the MHS algorithm are better than those of the original HS one.